Resilient railway spike



Dec. 31, 1957 Filed July 16, 1954 A. c. JACK V 2 ,818,218

RESILIENT RAILWAY SPIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR APT/4U? 6. J4 64 Qmmm h 8 ATTORNEY Dec. 31, 1957 A. c. JACK 2,818,218

RESILIENT RAILWAY SPIKE Filed July 16, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR APT/7U? C JACK BY wwmzgw )7 1' 5 ATTORNEY 2,818,218 Patented Dec. 31, 1957 free RESILIENT RAILWAY SPIKE Arthur C. Jack, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Bernuth Lembcke Co. Inc. New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application July 16, 1954, Serial No. 443,904

3 Claims. (Cl. 238-366) This invention relates to a resilient tie plate spike constructed to bind the rail-mounting plate securely to the underlying wooden tie of a railway.

In accordance with standard railroad practice, tie plates are equipped with shoulders between which the flanges of the rail lie, so that lateral movement of the rail base in the tie plate is prevented. Longitudinal movement, or creeping of the rail usually is prevented by special means and the problem with which this invention chiefly is concerned deals with secure and immovable attachment of the tie plates to the ties which rest on and in the ballast of. the road bed. It also is common practice to provide each tie plate with two sets of spike holes one set on each side of the rail seat, there being four spike holes in each of the two spaced sets. The two holes adjacent the lateral edges on the opposite sides of the tie plate are known as the lag holes and the two pairs of holes adjacent the rail base are known as the gage holes.

It has been found that resilient spikes having two legs which are forced resiliently toward each other when the spike is driven have not only a positive grip in the spike hole of the tie but as a feature of greater importance have a firm positive grip on the tie plate. This is in distinction from the looseness between a solid spike and the tie plate through a hole of which it is driven. In that case the only firmness in the connection is provided by the pressure of the spike head on the upper surface of the tie plate or (while it remains) the pressure exerted by the head of the spike on the flange of a rail mounted on the tie plate.

Certain resilient spikes are so made that when they are driven through the gage holes of a tie plate, the heads of the spikes normally contact the rail. With some such spikes the heads are formed so that normal driving of the spike brings its head into direct contact with the upper surface of the rail flange, the intent being to exert such pressure on the rail as to inhibit longitudinal creep. Such attempts defeat their own purpose, because the spikes are ultimately so loosened by the vertically directed pressure of the rails as to give play between the tie plate and the tie. Although the loosening of the resilient spikes is not so rapid as when a solid spike is similarly driven it will nevertheless ultimately occur. In either case frequent check-up with probable redriving of the spikes is necessary. If the spikes are permitted to work loose there is a plate cutting and abrasion of the tie in which the plate is mounted.

I In my earlier Patents No. 2,524,805 and No. 2,524,806, both dated October ll), 1950, I disclose two forms of resilient tie plate spike adapted positively to clinch into the spike hole of a tie plate and to clinch in the spike hole of the tie. Whereas those spikes are wholly satisfactory when driven through the outer, or lag, holes of a tie plate, the heads of the spikes are so tapered that they are in direct contact with the flange of the rail when the spike is driven through an inner, or gage, hole of the tie plate. Although such contact is less definite than is the case of spikes which are intended to act as rail anchors as well as spikes, the spikes do gradually work loose under the lifting tendency exerted on them by the rails. It is usual therefore to use these spikes in diagonally opposite lag holes to assure the firm engagement of the tie plate to the tie and to use the cheaper solid spikes in diagonally opposite gage holes of the tie plate.

The object of this invention is to provide a resilient tie plate spike possessing the advantage of my previously patented spikes, which improved spike can be used with complete satisfaction in the gage holes of a tie plate, in most instances to avoid the use of spikes of any type in the lag holes of the plate.

In the accompanying drawings, exemplary of the embodiment of my invention:

Fig. l is a. view showing the tie, tie plate and rail flange in cross-section and the spike of my invention in side elevation, the showing of the several members of the assembly except the spike itself being fragmentary and the spike being shown as driven through a gage hole of the tie plate;

Fig. It is a view generally similar to Fig. I but on a smaller scale, taken on the section line IIII of Fig. III and showing the complete width of the tie plate and rail base together with two of the tie plate spikes driven through gage holes of the tie plate;

Fig. III is a plan view of the structures shown in Fig. 15, this View being in plan, to illustrate the use of my improved tie plate spike in diagonally opposite gage holes of the tie plate with the lag holes of the tie plate unoccupied;

Fig. IV is a view similar to Fig. I but somewhat more fragmentary, showing a slightly modified form of my improved tie plate spike;

Fig. V is a cross-sectional view taken on the section line V-V of Fig. I;

Fig. V1 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line VL-VI. of Fig. I;

Fig. VII is a cross-sectional view taken on the section line VII-V II of Fig. IV.

For clear understanding of the present invention it should be understood that tie plates and the flanges of railroad rails are made to standard dimensions not only as to their lateral dimensions but also as to thickness and as to the dimensions of the spike holes in the tie plates. On the basis of that fact I have discovered that I can make a resilient tie plate spike of such structure and proportions that when driven through a gage hole of a tie plate it remains safely out of contact with the flange of a rail mounted on the plate. Because of the fact that my resilient spike is required to exert both lateral and vertical pressure on the tie plate, it is necessary that its upper portion be so formed that it will overlie not only the tie plate but also the flange of the rail. I have therefore evolved a resilient tie plate spike which is of novel construction in its upper region to fulfill those requirements while being free from vertical pressure by the rail.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the spike shown in Fig. l is designated generally by reference numeral 1. This spike is shown in cooperative relation with a tie plate 2 having therein four lag holes 2a and four gage holes 3 for the insertion of spikes and two laterally spaced shoulders 4 providing a seat for the flanges 5' which form the base of the rail. The tie plate itself is mounted on a Wooden tie 6. In the drawings the spike is shown as driven through a gage hole and through two gage holes, of the tie plate.

Considering now the structure of the spike itself, the spike follows generally the structural arrangement of my prior Patent No. 2,524,806 as to which patent it may be considered to constitute an improvement. 'Thus the spike is composed of a single band of resilient metal of sub tant a a ms-sect on As shown a d as is de i ab but not necessary, this band is rectangular in its crosssectional contour. At the upper and driving end of the Spike the band of metal is looped to provide a relatively broad driving head 7 adapted to receive blows from the cupped head of ,a manual or mechanical spike driver. :Belowthe head the two legs 8 and 9 approach each other but remain out of contact, with at least the one leg 9 inclining toward the vertical axis of the spike. In the next lower plategripping region of the spike the legs 8 and .9 approach a parallel relation, when driven then bulge slightly in the upper region of the tie-gripping portion .of the spike and finally come close to each other and extend inapproximately parallel relation down to the terminal point of the spike.

It will .be seen in Fig. I of the drawings that as the spike is driven there is a lateral compression of the spike in the region immediately :below the head as the resistance of the tie plate at the walls of the gage hole 3 force the resilient legs of the spike toward each other. With the form .of spike shown in Fig. I there remains a gap a between the legs of the spike. The angularity of leg 9 in this region causes a wedging action against the walls of the spike hole, to produce a positive gripping action of both laterally and vertically directed forces and a firm engagement of the spike with the tie plate. In order to prevent direct contact of leg 8 of the spike with the edge of the rail flange 5, the leg 8 is off-set toward the leg 9 to provide a rabbeted region 11 immediately adjacent the head 7 of the spike. This rabbeting is sufficient in length substantially to space leg 8 from the flange while allowing for substantial spacing of the spike head above the upper surface of the rail flange when the spike is fully driven. It is not so long as to impair the wedging action in the region I) in which both legs of the spike are in contact with the walls of the spike hole in the tie plate. Also the rabbeting is of sufficient depth to give a substantial gap c between the surface of leg .8 and the edge of the rail flange.

It has been noted that the thickness of the tie plate and the rail flange is standarized for both those members. Also the dimensions of the tie plate holes are standardized. I therefore so form and proportion the upper region of my resilient spike, including the dimensions, stiflness and spread of the spike legs, the angularity of the inclined leg or legs and the dimensions of the rabbeted region 11 of leg 8 above noted, that when the spike is fully driven it will be in the position shown in Fig. I. As so driven the wedging of the spike in the tie plate is so firm that the entire tie plate can be lifted by its engagement with just one spike. It is that same wedging effect which makes it necessary to avoid direct contact between a leg of the spike and the edge of the rail flange as well as between the head of the spike and the upper surface of the rail flange. Such direct contact and wedging would in many cases permit the tendency of the rail for upward movement ultimately to loosen the spike from the tie plate. The proportioning of the spike also is such that when no further driving is necessary firmly to engage the spike to the tie plate by jamming in the gage hole of the tie plate the head 7 of the spike is positioned a safe distance above flange of the rail. That is, when the spike is driven to the necessary limit the overlying area of the spike head is at a level to which no normal rail movement can reach and all adjacent surfaces of the spike are wholly out of contact with the rail.

It should be explained that the reaction of the tie plate through which the resilient spike is driven, by compressing the spike in an upper region thereof, tends to spread the legs of the spike in their lower regions and this tepdengy aets firmly to engage the spike with the u d rlyin ie The relation of the rail, tie plate and spike in two 4 horizontal planes is shown in Figs. V. and VI .of the drawings.

The modification shown in Fig. IV of the drawings is intended to give assistance in positioning the spike duri ng driving. In this form of the resilient spike designated generally by reference numeral 1a, leg 8a of the spike is offset further toward leg 9a than is the case with the form of the spike shown in Fig. I, to give a rabbeted region of greater depth and a gap d between leg 8a and the edge of rail flange 5 .wider than the gap 0 15 Fi When the overall cross-section is compressed by driving, the abutment 13 on leg 8a formed by the offsetting is brought into contact with leg 9a to limit compression of the spike. The proportioning is such that a positive limitation to compression takes place with the spike as a whole in proper position with respect to the flange of the rail and at a stage of the driving in which compression of the spike has securely jammed -:the spike in the spike hole of the tie plate. Fig. VII of the drawings serves additionally to illustrate this condition.

Were it not for the spike-loosing efiect of upwardly directed rail pressure on spikes driven into contact with the flange .of a rail mounted on the tie plate, it would be possible adequately to secure the tie plate to the tie by only two previously available resilient spikes driven through two gage holes positioned in mutual diagonal relation. It has therefore been a practice to supplement two solid gage hole spikes driven as described with two lag hole spikes driven in an opposed diagonal relation, to give a rhombic arrangement of the spikes. Preferably those additional spikes are resilient spikes. The total cost for the anchorage of each tie plate is thereby increased. By using two of the resilient spikes of this invention as shown in Figs. II and III, driven through two gage holes in mutually diagonal position, secure attachment of the tie plate to its tie is obtained in economical manner by the use of only two spikes.

The resilient spike of my invention has been described above with reference to the novel and more exacting use for which it is adapted, namely for driving in the gage hole of a railway tie plate. It is to be understood, however, that such adaptation has been made without detriment to its use in a lag hole of the tie plate. In both positions the compression of the spike in the spike hole of the tie plate firmly interengages those members of the rail mounting assembly.

Having described one embodiment of my invention, I do not intend to limit that invention to the structure as specifically shown and described; inasmuch as changes in form and arrangement can be made within the bounds of my invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A resilient railway spike adapted for driving in a spike hole of a tie plate located immediately adjacent the flange of a rail mounted on the tie plate, the said railway spike being formed of a band of resilient metal and having an inverted approximately U-shaped driving head extended laterally to overlie the adjacent flange of a rail and two cooperative legs extended from the loop forming the said driving head, the said two legs converging immediately below the said head to provide a wedge-form region in which the legs are spaced apart when the spike is uncompressed to exert a resilient force directed both laterally and axially of the spike upon regional compression of the spike in the spike hole of the tie plate firmly to interengage the tie plate and the spike, from the said plate engaging region of the spike the legs being extended in approximately parallel relation to the entering end of the spike, between the said spike head and the said plateengaging region of the spike one said leg being rabbeted toward the longitudinal axis of the spike to maintain the said leg out of contact with the proximate flange of a rail when the spike is driven into binding engagement in a 5 spike hole adjacent the rail in position to present that leg thereof toward the rail.

2. A resilient railway spike adapted for driving in a spike hole of a tie plate located immediately adjacent the flange of a rail mounted on the tie plate, the said railway spike being formed by a band of resilient metal and having an inverted approximately U-shaped driving head extended laterally to overlie the adjacent flange of a rail and two cooperative legs extended from the loop forming the said driving head, the said two legs converging immediately below the said head to provide a wedge-form region in which the legs are spaced apart when the spike is uncompressed to exert a resilient force directed both laterally and axially of the spike upon regional compression of the spike in the spike hole of the tie plate firmly to interengage the tie plate and the spike, from the said plate-engaging region of the spike the legs being extended in approximately parallel relation to the entering end of the spike, between the said spike head and the said plateengaging region of the spike one said leg being rabbeted toward the longitudinal axis of the spike to maintain the said leg out of contact with the proximate flange of a rail when the spike is driven into binding engagement in a spike hole in position to present that leg thereof toward the rail, the spike being so proportioned that the jamming effect when the spike has been driven into firm engagement with the tie plate positions the rabbeted region of the said leg proximate the rail flange in line therewith with the head of the spike positioned an adequate distance above said flange.

3. A railway spike in accordance with the definition of claim 2 in which in that region of the spike in which the spike is compressed by driving into the spike hole of the tie plate at least one of the spike legs has a part extended toward the other of the said legs so far that in driving the spike the legs thereof come into contact before the limit of compression has been reached to limit compression of the spike in a position in which no surface of the spike is in contact with a surface of the rail on the tie plate.

Preston July 28, 1942 McComb Sept. 28, 1954 

